Chapter 121B

Section 1. The following words, whenever used in this chapter shall, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, have the following meanings:— ''Acquisition cost'', the amount prudently required to be expended by an operating agency in acquiring a housing or clea…

Section 10. Unless otherwise particularly provided in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine the operating agencies having the powers and subject to the limitations provided in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine of this chapter shall be either housing authorities or urban renewal a…

Section 11. Each operating agency shall have the powers and be subject to the limitations provided in sections one to sixteen, inclusive, shall have the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes of the relevant provisions of the General Laws and shal…

Section 12. Each contractor with an operating agency and each subcontractor shall comply with the applicable requirements of chapter one hundred and forty-nine as to wages and hours of labor and any other conditions relating to employment. The attorney general shall enforce this …

Section 13. An operating agency shall be liable in contract or in tort in the same manner as a private corporation. The members, employees, officers and agents of an operating agency shall not be liable as such on its contracts or for torts not committed or directly authorized by…

Section 14. An operating agency may obligate itself, in any contract with the federal government for a loan or the payment of annual contributions authorized by section eleven, to convey to the federal government the project to which such contract relates, upon the occurrence of …

Section 15. The bonds, notes and certificates of indebtedness of an operating agency, in the absence of an express recital to the contrary on the face thereof, shall constitute negotiable instruments for all purposes. They may be payable from the income of the agency or constitut…

Section 16. The real estate and tangible personal property of an operating agency including houses constructed by a housing authority on private land in rural areas under the provisions of section twenty-seven shall be deemed to be public property used for essential public and go…

Section 17. No bond, note or other evidence of indebtedness executed or obligation or liability incurred by an operating agency shall be a debt or charge against the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof other than such agency. Nothing in this chapter shall be constru…

Section 18. Whether or not an operating agency has been created therein any city or town may undertake, itself or by or through any department, board, agency, authority, or office of the city or town, or by or through any operating agency, planning district, metropolitan district…

Section 19. Cities and towns may raise and appropriate money for the purpose of defraying the initial costs and annual administrative expenses of an operating agency authorized to be organized therein, including the expense of preparing any plans, studies, programs and surveys an…

Section 2. The provisions of this chapter are hereby declared to be severable and if any such provision or the application of such provision to any person or circumstances shall be held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such invalidity or unconstitutionality shall not be constru…

Section 20. A city or town in which an operating agency has been organized may raise and appropriate, or may borrow, or may agree with such agency or with the federal government or the commonwealth to raise and appropriate or to borrow, in aid of such agency, such sums as may be …

Section 21. Indebtedness authorized under section twenty shall be outside the limit of indebtedness prescribed in section ten of chapter forty-four, and shall be payable within twenty years and otherwise subject to sections sixteen to twenty-seven, inclusive, of said chapter fort…

Section 23. For the purpose of complying with the conditions of federal legislation, or in lieu of a contribution, loan or grant in cash to an operating agency organized within its limits, or to aid and cooperate in the planning, construction or operation of any project of such a…

Section 24. A city or town, in which the operating agency, pursuant to section forty-seven, proposes to take, acquire or clear land constituting the whole or part or parts of an area which the agency has determined to be a substandard, decadent or blighted open area and for which…

Section 25. It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth, and that there is not in the commonwealth, within a reasonable distance of the principal centers of employment, an adequate supply of low-rent housing for families…

Section 26. A housing authority shall have the following powers in addition to those set forth in section eleven or elsewhere in this chapter:— (a) To make studies of housing needs and markets, including data with respect to population and family groups and their distribution acc…

Section 26A. The department shall have all the powers of a housing authority under this chapter and be subject to all the limitations on such powers, provided for in this chapter, in order to provide housing for the elderly and for families of low income in any city or town where…

Section 26B. (a) A housing authority shall participate in the performance-based monitoring program as established by the department in accordance with this section. (b) The department shall establish and implement a performance-based monitoring program and develop and provide uni…

Section 26C. (a) The department shall establish a program based on best practices to allow authorities to work collaboratively and shall provide capital, maintenance and repair planning and technical assistance to housing authorities that shall facilitate the capturing of economi…

Section 26D. Housing authorities shall post on the wall of the community center for each of its developments the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other means of contact for all members and senior staff. Housing authorities shall maintain a website that shall di…

Section 27. If a housing authority organized in a city or town in which rural areas are located shall undertake the provision of housing for families of low income in such rural areas, it shall comply with the following provisions and shall have the following powers, in addition …

Section 28. Except as provided in section thirty with respect to projects leased from the federal government, every housing project shall be subject to all laws and all ordinances, by-laws and regulations of the city or town in which it lies, relating to the construction and repa…

Section 28A. (a) Each housing authority shall submit to the department an annual plan. The annual plan shall state the housing authority's goals and objectives to meet or improve upon the department's performance based review and assessment standards under section 26B. The annual…

Section 29. The members of a housing authority shall biennially, or more frequently as required by the department, and at a time to be determined by the department, file with the department a written report for its preceding fiscal years since its last previously filed written re…

Section 3. There is hereby created, in each city and town in the commonwealth, a public body politic and corporate to be known as the ''Housing authority'' of such city or town; provided, that no such authority shall transact any business or exercise any powers until the need for…

Section 30. A housing authority, with the written approval of the department and of the mayor of the city or selectmen of the town in which the project is situated, may enter into a contract with the federal government for purchasing or leasing a clearance or housing project owne…

Section 31. A housing authority shall not undertake a low-rent housing project until it has submitted to the department the plans and description of the project, the estimated cost thereof, the proposed method of financing it, and a detailed estimate of the expenses and revenues …

Section 32. Upon the completion or acquisition of a housing project by a housing authority, it shall be maintained and operated by such authority. It is hereby declared to be the policy of this commonwealth that each housing authority shall manage and operate decent, safe and san…

Section 32A. A housing authority may make reasonable rules and regulations for the use of parking areas under its control and may make reasonable charges for the use of such areas; provided, however, no housing authority shall charge its tenants for the use of any parking space w…

Section 32B. As used in sections thirty-two B to thirty-two F, inclusive, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the content otherwise requires: ''Landlord'', the owner or managing agent of a public housing development or a subsidized housing development. ''…

Section 32C. Whenever a person who is not a member of a tenant household has, on or near a public housing development or a subsidized housing development: (a) caused serious physical harm to a member of a tenant household or employee of the landlord or any other person lawfully o…

Section 32D. A tenant or member of a tenant household in a public or subsidized housing development whose health or safety has been seriously threatened as described in section thirty-two C, and where there is reasonable cause to believe that such unlawful conduct will continue t…

Section 32E. Civil actions under section thirty-two C or thirty-two D shall be instituted in the housing or superior court departments having jurisdiction where the residential premises are located. Orders and judgments entered in such actions shall be subject to appellate review…

Section 32F. Whenever a court, pursuant to section thirty-two C, issues a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering a defendant to refrain from entering or remaining in a public or subsidized housing development or from harming a witness under …

Section 32G. A temporary absence from the commonwealth which exceeds 30 calendar days or 90 days in aggregate over the course of a calendar year shall create a rebuttable presumption that Massachusetts residency has been abandoned by a recipient of state or municipally-funded or …

Section 33. No project for low-rent housing involving the construction of new dwellings shall be undertaken by a housing authority unless the city or town has entered into an agreement with the housing authority providing that, subsequent to the initiation of the project and with…

Section 34. The commonwealth acting by and through the department may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for state financial assistance in the form of a grant by the commonwealth of the development cost of a housing project or projects. The total amount o…

Section 34A. The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for state financial assistance in the form of annual contributions to assist projects financed by the MHFA which are leased in whole or in part by …

Section 34B. Any contract for state financial assistance entered into by the commonwealth with a housing authority pursuant to section thirty-four may provide for additional state financial assistance in the form of a guarantee by the commonwealth of notes of the housing authorit…

Section 35. The commonwealth, acting by and through the department, may enter into a contract or contracts with a housing authority for supplementary state financial assistance in the form of grants and guarantees as provided in and subject to the limitations of sections thirty-f…

Section 36. The commonwealth shall have power to receive loans and grants from the federal government or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or from any other source, public or private, and to use any such loan or grant or part thereof for any purpose of this chapter, or to ac…

Section 37. For the purpose of avoiding, so far as practicable, during the period of public exigency, emergency and distress now existing on account of the acute shortage of housing in many cities and towns of the commonwealth, the making of persons or families homeless as the re…

Section 38. It is hereby declared that substandard and decadent areas exist in certain portions of the commonwealth and that there is not, in certain parts of the commonwealth, an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary housing for elderly persons of low income, available fo…

Section 38A. There shall be within the department a bureau of housing for the handicapped, in the division of community development. The bureau shall consist of the director, and other such persons as shall be necessary to conduct the work of the bureau. The director shall be sel…

Section 38B. The department is authorized to establish a program to provide service coordinators to assist residents in housing developed pursuant to sections thirty-nine and forty. The purpose of such program shall be to assist tenants living in such housing to meet tenancy requ…

Section 38C. The department shall establish and implement a program to conduct annual surveys of public housing residents. The department shall develop the annual survey in conjunction with stakeholders, including public housing residents. The survey shall be conducted by the dep…

Section 38D. (a)(1) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise: ''Affordable housing'', homeownership or rental housing which is restricted to occupancy by low or moderate income households of 1 or…

Section 39. The housing authority of each city or town organized under section three shall have power to provide housing for elderly persons of low income and handicapped persons of low income either in separate projects or as a definite portion of any other projects undertaken u…